7 Years Together & Yes We Are ENGAGED!

I don’t really talk much about my personal life on my blog – not my relationship. Honestly I don’t ever remember writing about it here, in plain terms anyway – there are of course plenty of cryptic mentions here and there.

Kim and I have been together for 7 years today, December 6th 2004 was the day we first met and started dating and I’ve never looked back since. It’s our 7th anniversary today and also a very special month, the month we finally got engaged.

This is one of the first pictures of us together that I could find, take on December 24th, 2004 at the Christmas Party we used to have regularly back at KY’s place.

It’s a pretty typical picture of us, with me looking like a complete idiot (yes I’m not very photogenic). Here’s another example from 2006..

We’ve been on a lot of trips together, this is about the earliest I could find from September 2005 when we went to Redang with the whole gang. It was an awesome trip, and something we tried to recreate recently with the Koh Lipe trip (even though not everyone was there).

You’ve probably grasped the theme by now, me looking like a tool and Kim looking hawt – welcome to my life.

I was traveling a lot at that time for work so we didn’t actually get to spend that much time together, which sucked obviously. We did get around Malaysia quite a bit though when I was back, with Penang being our favorite spot back in those days.

I did look back through Facebook for old pictures, but I think we only started using Facebook properly in 2007 – so there are only pictures from 2007 onwards.

Anyway back to the point, we have of course discussed marriage before and it’s something we’ve both agreed that we want. We just weren’t sure how, or when or whatever – so it got pushed back. Especially until the house was fairly well sorted, after all the house did look like this when we first started….so it took a fair amount of work.

The house was a huge step for us, a large commitment that we were taking together (both financially and in life). The next logical step of course, was to get married.

Marriage can become a very technical matter if you let it, something for the family, something for society and something to ‘get out of the way’. I didn’t want to let that happen, I started reading a lot about diamonds..they are after all a girls best friend – whatever your girl says…she’d love a big rock. Of course I’ve watched Blood Diamond and I’ve read about the inflated prices and whatnot, but sometimes life is not about being logical, or doing things which make sense.

Sometimes it’s just about romance, and pleasing the person you hold most dear in your heart. At least that’s what it was for me, I wanted to get the very best diamond ring I could find (and afford of course).

Let me tell you one thing if you’ve never been down that path, it can get very complicated….I ended up dizzy after reading about diamonds for a while. Colour, cut, clarity, dimensions and so on..after extensive research and considering shipping a rock from the US (http://www.bluenile.com/ if you’re interested). It was hard work getting the ring sorted out ‘undercover’ without Kim working out what I was up to, I managed to order it without arousing suspicious – but then collecting it was another problem.

Thankfully we went for dinner in Gardens with a friend of ours (ohai Lainey), and I pretended to go to the toilet after we’d finished eating. Actually, in reality, I was running downstairs to DeGem to pick up the ring and make-sure everything was ok. Lucky I was wearing my trust cargo shorts so I could shove everything in the pockets without being noticed.

In the end, I think the result was totally worth it. I thought it was very apt to propose at an island (it’s more ‘us’) than in a restaurant or somewhere traditional, I didn’t go for anything complicated or elaborate – my goal was complete and utter surprise..which I think I achieved. Judge yourself – the proposal video is here:

Koh Lipe was beautiful, it was an amazing trip with amazing friends – here are all 9 of us:

A perfect place to propose if you ask me, on a beautiful tropical island amongst our nearest and dearest friends. Here we are minutes before the proposal:

Congratulations!!! Again, for the millionth time. You guys are the cutest couple.
So – now that you’re an expert in diamonds, I’m sure Kim will see more to come. Heheheeh.
Also, well done on planning and sneaking off for the ring and planning the surprise. So sweet.

awwww BLESS!! 😀 😀 😀 congrats, you two! i love reading the guy’s account of things. it’s very much different (less flowery / poetic / emotional) than the girl’s. it’s endearing in a way and definitely provides the balance to the scale (of life?? wtf. haha). kim’s post was like a mile long and so beautiful i could cry but then here it’s like, we met, we lived together, i popped the question. haha. LOVE IT!! may shaolin tiger and kimberlycun find, have and hold happiness through all the days of their lives together and apart (but never apart for long, i do hope!). you two are beautiful. CONGRATULATIONSSSSS